Congratulations Mickey!

Mickey graduated from Beginner dog training today. He can "sit," "stay," "come," "wait," "down," "leave it," and "shake." Now it's on to Intermediate training.

Another visit from the Tooth Fairy

Daniel lost his 2nd tooth this week. He just doesn't get rattled by that sort of thing. It's all natural and normal that his tooth will come out and he will be ready for the tooth fairy and in the morning he will check to see what was left for him.

Library Elf
I just found a really cool website. Library Elf can send you email reminders of when your library loans are due and keep bugging you when they are overdue (if that's what you want). We go to the library about once a week and with videos (due in 1 week) and books (due in 3 weeks) that have a gazillion different due dates, it's hard to keep track. Add on to that, the Fresno County Library website is notoriously slow, and it's easy to procrastinate looking up all the due dates for lack of time. I've also tried the lengthy telephone response system, and the website is a teeny bit faster. So, at Library Elf, you just check if your library is supported, enter your account information, and tell it when you want reminders sent to you. How cool is that?

This weekend's malady...
Today we spent 2 1/2 hours in urgent care to get a prescription for antibiotic eye ointment. Michael has pink eye, but is on the mend. Last night, the boys from the Bach Children's Choir sang the national anthem at the Falcon's hockey game. Later on during the game, Michael's eye started bothering him and by the time he got home, it was watering and full of eye boogers. And since our family has not had pink eye in several years, we were all out of those eye drops that most young families have stored in their fridge door. Had today been a warm sunny day, I would have been very disappointed. But since it was a bit rainy and windy, I did not mind the wait as much and was able to get halfway through "The Taming of the Shrew." Now that's a funny book! Michael also finished a Star Wars book and is ready to take an AR quiz on Monday to complete his quarterly goal. Tim and Daniel stayed home and cut down a tree that was starting to shade our solar panels. Maybe Daniel can help Daddy again when it's time to plant a replacement. Can't wait to see what next weekend has in store!

Simple Pleasures

• Preheated blanket when I crawl into bed


• Sunset Magazine in the mail


• Clean countertops


• When Tim says, "Let's go to Sal's"


• Remembering to program the coffeepot the night before


• Waking up and STILL not catching the flu


• Hitting all green lights on the way somewhere


• Shopping at Costco at 10:00 a.m. on a weekday; filling up at the Costco gas station at 8:15 a.m. on a weekday

What's your simple pleasure?

Alison Krauss-A Hundred Miles or More
Tim brought back a few gifts for me and the boys when he was finished with his classes at Fuller. The boys each got Spongebob cups that flash with swirly straws. I got an Alison Krauss CD. It's really good, and if you can appreciate bluegrass/country music, you must run to your favorite music retailer and get this gem. Most of the songs are sad ballads, but don't let that scare you away. The music and production are outstanding. The critics didn't give it much of a nod, which usually means that the average joe will love it. Every time "Down to the River to Pray" comes on, Daniel says that's his favorite song. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Gryffindor: 11.4 points!
Michael took his AR Quiz on Harry Potter and answered 19 out of 20 correctly, thus earning him 11.4 points. Way to go Michael! We had to work hard on contrasting the book details from the movie since the quiz was only on the book.

Of Blossoms and Harry Potter

Finally life is getting back into shape. We "enjoyed" several low-key days at home and Michael and I even knocked out a few chapters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. That was one of the only things that could keep his mind off his bad headache. Wednesday, Daniel went to preschool and Michael and I got to watch more of the movie, Harry Potter, up to the same point we were at in the book. It's a lot of fun to read a bunch in the book and then watch it play out on the movie. That book is worth a whopping 12 AR points at school and I told Michael as soon as he passed the quiz, we would watch the whole movie at one time. It's fun to see how Michael understands the implied meaning of things instead of being told flat out, "Malfoy is a mean boy" or "Ron has a good heart."

There are some trees next door to Daniel's preschool that are just starting to blossom. I told the boys about how I grew up with trees blossoming all around me every February and that, at the time, it didn't seem like anything special. And now I can't wait for them to blossom because it's a little bright spot in the middle of a dreary winter. I said that we "had trees blossoming just right outside our door" and I still have to pull out my memory of all the pink blossoms and honey-sweet scent. Daniel asked if the blossoms filled up the doorway so much we couldn't get out. I explained that "right outside our door" was a sort of figure of speech. He asked what a figure of speech was. Oh, how those fresh little minds are ready to be filled.

When the kids are sick...
The boys are sick with whatever it is that has school attendance dropping and church-goers not going. Daniel spiked a fever in a mere 15 minutes on Friday night and they are both coughing like crazy. Thankfully they have been sleeping all night which allows Mom to sleep all night and not wear down the immune system. Friday night: purchase more children's Tylenol. Sunday night: purchase more cough syrup. Today: need to purchase some children's Motrin since the Tylenol is not working on the headaches. Michael has that headache where it feels like your eyes are going to pop out, but no fever. Ugh. Everywhere you go, people have the same cough: grocery store, restaurant, class... What if a big X was magically stamped on your forehead if you were still contagious? Would you stay home from work or school? Would you give dirty looks to the person next to you with a big X? Would you (hee hee) cover it up with makeup? As a mom, I would want to tell a contagious person to go home and quit spreading their germs to my kids. On the flip side, how many times have I been contagious but felt well enough to go to work or church? Wouldn't it be great if there was a cold vaccine just like the flu vaccine?

Irresistible Revolution
Quote out of a book written by a really weird guy (but who inspires many):
"The gospel is good news for sick people and is disturbing for those who think they've got it all together. Some of us have been told our whole lives that we are wretched, but the gospel reminds us that we are beautiful. Others of us have been told our whole lives that we are beautiful, but the gospel reminds us that we are also wretched. The church is a place where we can stand up and say we are wretched, and everyone will nod and agree and remind us that we are also beautiful."